Expansion-joint.



R. L. BREWER.

EXPANSION JOINT.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 19, 1907. Dec. 29'

2 SHBETS-SHEET 2.

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ROBERT LEE BREWER, OF CAMDEN, ARKANSAS.

EXPANSION-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

Application filed November 19, 1907. Serial No. 402,859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT L. BREWER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Camden, in the county of Ouachita and State of Arkansas,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Exp ansion-Joints,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway rails, and more particularly to jointstherefor, and has for its object to provide a simple and effective jointwhich will expand with the rails at the change of temperature and thusprevent the usual gap between the rails incident to such change.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription and it will be understood that changes in the specificstructure shown and described may be made within the scope of the claimswithout de arting from the spirit of the invention.

11 the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views,Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of two railway rails showingthe application of my invention thereto, Fig. 2 is a side elevationalview, Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on the line 33 ofFig. 1, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the fish plates, Fig. 5is a vertical sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is adetail perspective view of the meeting end of one rail, Fig. 7 is aperspective view of the web block.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there are shown tworail sections 10 and 11 which are arranged with their ends in spacedrelation, as shown. The rail 10 is of ordinary construction andcomprises the tread portion 12, the connecting web portion 13, and abase flange 14. The section 10 is provided with a transverse passage 15.The rail 11 comprises a tread portion 16, a web portion 17, and a baseflange 18. The web r portion 17 is arranged to extend beyond the innerend of the flange 18, for a purpose to be hereinafter described. Thetread portion 16 is beveled as shown at 19 and 20, and this beveledportion of the tread is thus arranged to lie directly above the innerportion of the web 17 which projects beyond a portion of its connectingflange 18. The web portion 17 of the rail 11 is provided with alongitudinally disposed slot 21.

A web expansion block 22 is disposed between the ends of the rails 10and 11, and

this block comprises a tread portion 23, a web portion 24, and aconnecting flange 25 The flange 25 is projected beyond the web 24, andin the upper face of this portion there is formed a longitudinallydisposed passage 26. The passage 26 is thus arranged to receive aportion of the web 17 of the rail 11. The block 22 has its tread 23arranged to extend above the passage 26, and this portion of the treadis forked as shown at 27 and this fork is thus arranged to providefingers 28 and 29 which are thus arranged to extend at either side ofthe beveled portions 19 and 20 of the tread 16.

Fish plates 30 and 31 respectively are arranged at either side of therails 10 and 11 and the connecting web block 22, and these plates haveortions 32 which are disposed between the ower edges of treads and theirconnecting flanges, and these portions are somewhat wider at their lowerends as shown at 33, and these fish plates are arranged with portions 34which lie outwardly of the base flanges 14, 18 and 25. The fish plates31 are each provided with horizontal passages 35, and 36, and disposedin the passages 35 and in the passage 15 of the rail 10 there is shown aclamping bolt 37. The passages 36 are arranged to receive bolts 38, andthese bolts are disposed with a portion in the slot 21.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with two rail sections one of which is provided witha tapered end and a cut away base flange, of an expansible memberlocated between the rail sections and comprising a forked tread portionarranged to receive the tapered end of one of the rail sections, saidexpansible member having a flange located beneath the forked portion,said flange having a longitudinally extending passage for the receptionof the web of its adjacent rail section, and fastening plates engaged atthe sides of said rail sections.

2. The combination with two rail sections one of which is provided witha tapered tread portion, said section having a portion of its baseflange cut away, of an expansible member located between the railsections and having a forked tread portion for the reception of thetapered end of its adjacent rail section, said expansible member havinga slotted base flange arranged to receive the web of the adjacent railsection, and plates secured at each side of said rail sections.

3. The combination with two rail sections one of which is provided witha tapered end i the sides of the expansible member, a clampand a cutaway base flange, of an expansible ing bolt engaged with the plates anddisposed member located between the rail sections in the slot, and asecond clamping bolt en- 15 and comprising an outwardly directed basegaged with the plates and with the other rail flange having alongitudinally extending section.

groove for receiving the lower edge of the ta- In testimony whereof Iafiix my signature, pered -ortion, said expansible member havin presenceof two witnesses. ing a orked tread portion disposed above ROBERT LEEBREWER and in parallel relation to the base flange and receiving saidtapered end, the first named Witnesses: section having a longitudinalslot, plates lo- C. D. GEE, cated at the. sides of the rail sections andat. W. H. HALL.

